The number of malicious apps has quadrupled in past two years on Google Play, according to a new report from online security services firm RiskIQ. The number of apps that were found to contain malicious code was 11,000 in 2011. That number jumped to 42,000 in 2013, the firm claims. Of course that number correlates to the growth of apps available on Google Play, which went from hosting 250,000 to 1,000,000 apps in the same two year time period.

That means that about four percent of the apps on Google Play contain malicious code of some sort. The worst part of this, according to RiskIQ, is that Google is not removing these bad apples fast enough. In 2011 the App store owner removed 60 percent of those apps, but that number sunk to 25 percent in 2013.

The app category that contained the most malware was personalization apps, though games and other entertainment apps had their faire share of trojans and malware hidden away waiting for unsuspecting users to download and install...